Film 2011

[murphy's law]

Requiem for a dream - 8

Watched this on the back of Black Swan. Thoroughly depressing but very compelling film, utter drug addicted misery, the old lady was excellent and Jennifer Connelly is fit.

Anyone recommend any other Aronofsky films?

 

[Acker79]

Pi (1998) - IMDb is quite well loved, though I've not seen it, and The Wrestler (2008) - IMDb is one I've seen and really enjoyed.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Hereafter - Brighton Marina Sunday.
Having read Marc's review (above) I wasn't especially hopeful, but was actually pleasantly surprised.
I like Matt Damon as an actor and I thought it was interesting to see him acting in a role which didn't require handgun skills or physical violence. I also like a long film (129 mins) -as long as its not long just for the sake of it. And lastly I like a film shot somewhere other than NYC or in CGI and that has believeable special effects.
On the downside I thought the script wasn't very joined-up, but overall this filmed ticked most of my boxes 7.5/10

As for Cineworld, cleaner than usual, but long queues to buy tickets from the bored teenagers entrusted with Cineworld Customer Satisfaction and no action taken against the juvenile wankers in the audience who were too thick to watch the film and preferred to fcuk around. I hate these twats. 1/10

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Black Swan

Overly hyped, clunking story line, some unintentional laugh out loud moments and to paraphrase Dorothy Parker "Miss Portman runs the gamut of emotions from A to B".

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Devil - 5 people trapped in a lift, one of them is possessed by the Devil from previous actions done on Earth. Not bad but nothing special. Exam is better on a similar vein. 6.4

Inception - Wow. One of the greatest films of recent years. Style and Sunstance. Di Caprio is as usual superb. One the most under rated actors of his generation. 8.6

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Splice

An interesting film about Cloning with rather surprising results. Worth a look and the Animal/Human clone is strangely desirable like the Blue Female in Avatar. 7.2

 

[Mendoza]

Black Swan - bit of a let down, even with Mila Kunis in it
Took ages to get going, then nothing really happened. Lots of fingering in it which puts it up to a 6/10

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Bad Lieutenant

The remake with Nicholas Cage. Good reviews but dissapointing. Started off well but then just dragged and was rather boring come the end.

6.1

 

[keaton]

Requiem for a dream - 8

Watched this on the back of Black Swan. Thoroughly depressing but very compelling film, utter drug addicted misery, the old lady was excellent and Jennifer Connelly is fit.

Anyone recommend any other Aronofsky films?

I watched it on Friday, it was as depressing as I remember it and well-made but ultimately pretty soulless and boring.

PI was his best upto Black Swan, similiar wierdness about a bloke who gets a code that might hold the key to Stock Exchange/Life.
The Wrestlers very good, and I quite like The Fountain( a love story between two people set across mulitiple historic periods) but I seem to be in a minority there

 

[Acker79]

Monthly Preview

February

Batman Forever’s Nicole Kidman teams up with The Dark Knight’s Aaron Eckhart to bring to the screen The Rabbit Hole a story of how the loss of a child affect a couple. (trailer)

James Cameron as producer combines his love of underwater with his love of 3D to give us Sanctum, where we follow an underwater cave diving crew. Stars Ioan Gruffudd and Richard Roxburgh. (trailer)

Kate Hudson, Lucy Punch, Gael Garcia Bernal try to give us a similar spin as Love and Other Drugs as Hudson plays a woman with terminal cancer, whose only fear greater than death is falling in love in A Little Bit of Heaven (trailer)

Kristen Stewart continues to try to shake off the tag of ‘that girl from Twilight by playing Joan Jett in the biopic The Runaways, also featuring Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, and Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat. (trailer)

Hot young stars Odette Yustman and Amber Heard play two friends whose bike trip around Argentina goes wrong in And Soon the Darkness. Also starring Star Trek’s Karl Urban. (trailer)

The new Spider-man, Andrew Garfield, teams up with last year’s break out brit star, Carey Mulligan, and Keira Knightly as three youngster who grow up together in a supposedly idyllic boarding school, and have to deal with “a haunting truth” in Never Let Me Go. (trailer)

Jennifer Aniston is the friend who agrees to pretend to be Adam Sandler’s ex-wife when his tactic of pretending to be married to bed women goes awry and he falls for one of them in Just Go With It. (trailer)

Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation’s Anton Yelchin, Winter’s Bone’s Jennifer Lawrence, and Jodie Foster will hope Mel Gibson public relations problems won’t impact too negatively on The Beaver where Mel plays a man whose social relation issues causes him to communicate through a hand puppet. (trailer)

A largely British voice cast (Emily Blunt, Jason Statham, Michael Caine, Patrick Stewart, James Mcavoy, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters) sees garden decorations re-enact the Shakspeare classic with a spin in the animated Gnomeo and Juliet. (trailer)

The Debt sees a Nazi return years after three secret agents had supposedly killed him, and Sam Worthington is sent to investigate. (trailer)

This month also sees Edgar Wright reteam with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as they play two friends on holiday in America who run into an alien named Paul, voiced by Seth Rogan in Paul. Also stars Kristen Wiig, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman and Glee’s Jane Lynch. (trailer)

Another Glee alumni, Dianna Agron also makes a big screen appearance this month as the love interest of Alex Pettyfer in I Am Number Four, about a group of people with special power who are being hunted down and killed. (trailer)

Martin Lawrence returns for more of the same in Big Momma’s House: Like Father, Like Son. (trailer)

Howl sees the story of Allen Ginsberg brought to life, with particular focus on his obscenity trial. Stars James Franco as Ginsberg. Also features Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeff Daniels. (trailer)

Natalie Portman sullies herself by playing the love interest of Ashton Kutcher in the latest offering from Ivan Reitman, No Strings Attached. They start a ‘no strings attached’ relationship, can they keep it that way? Also stars Carey Elwes, and Kevin Kline. (trailer)

Nic Cage plays a man who makes a deal with the devil, and returns from death to use a vehicle, this time it’s a car, and he’s after revenge against the men who killed his daughter in Drive Angry 3D. (trailer)

Australia offers us Animal Kingdom starring Guy Pearce about 17 year old kid whose family is full of criminals, and the policeman who tries to help him escape that life. (trailer)

Anthony Hopkins stars in The Rite along with Ciaran Hinds, Rutger Hauer, Alice Braga, and Toby Jones in a story of a priest who travels to Italy to study Exorcisms. (trailer)

Liam Neeson tries to recapture Taken form, when he wakes up from a coma to find his identity has been stolen, and not even his wife believes him, in Unknown. Also stars Mad Men’s January Jones, Diane Kruger, Frank Langella and Aiden Quinn. (trailer)

This month also sees the long a waited sequel to the minor hit East is East, Jmi Mistry, Om Puri, and Lida Bassett return for West is West. (trailer)

Other big films this month: True Grit, Yogi Bear, Brighton Rock, and The Fighter.

 

[vegster]

Jeez, looks like I can scrub February at The DOY'S then ? best get me Uke tuned up and ready..........

 

[dannyboy]

battlefield LA in march looks pretty cool.

 

[murphy's law]

The Fighter - 6.75

Not sure what to make of this film. Is Bale's performance over the top, not sure. It's certainly in contrast to Wahlberg, who is almost too understated. There are some humorous moments from the sisters, but overall its fairly slow and not that engaging or as dramatic as it could have been. Perhaps down to Walhberg, who it is difficult to care too much about due to the lifeless sedate portrayal of his character. Wraps up like all boxing movies in a fairly swift conclusion but I'm left with the impression that it was a bit plodding. All that being said it's not bad and has it's moments, reasonably entertaining stuff.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Di Caprio is as usual superb. One the most under rated actors of his generation. 8.6

Who underrates Di Caprio? He has been superb in pretty much every film he has been in. The only blot, as far as I am concerned, was his stint in the shambolic affair that was the Titanic.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

The King's Speech (again) - the closing scene where the 'royals' are waving from the Buckingham Palace balcony looking out at the crowds outside the gates and up The Mall - surely CGI etc. but incredibly realistic, anyone know how they did that bit?

 

[MattBackHome]

Finally got round to watching Inception – though I must have missed something as I wasn’t at all confused by the whole dream-in-a-dream thing. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot, and agree that DiCaprio was very good in it. 8.0

I also really liked the superbowl trailer for Cowboys and Aliens, starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. The whole western/sci-fi mash up reminded me a bit of Bravestar, which I hadn’t thought about in YEARS.

 

[Mr Everyone]

Watched a 2010 film called 'Skeletons' yesterday.

It's a low-budget flick shot entirely on location within the borders of the great East Midlands; Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire!

Billed as 'The Finest Cult Film To Have Come From Britain Since Withnail And I', I have to say it probably is. The film's cast is largely built on unknowns, although some may have come across Jason Isaacs or Paprika Steen.

It does get a little confusing in places, but hey that's how I like it!

8.5/10

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Animal Kingdom from out here has been getting rave reviews.

 

[The Large One]

Brighton Rock

Watched the film last night and have to admit disappointment. For me as a Brightonian, 'Eastbourne Rock' would have been more appropriate. For the acting, Sam Riley is weak and unconvincing, Andrea Riseborough is excellent, and Helen Mirren and John Hurt breeze through it, showing the others how it's done. While there's some good individual performances, the overall direction is awkward. It's as if you had to go into the film knowing the original, and indulging in your own sense of compare and contrast. Some scenes do work, but far too many don't - especially the ones involving Riley.

 

[Braders]

The Kings Speech

went to see it last night with some cynicism but ended up really enjoying it , superb cast and although I'd be the first to put my hands up and admit my British history isn't very good the portrayal was excellent , Timothy Spell at Winston Churchill was fantastic and very good (although only having the archive Churchill footage to go on) - it seems I only appear to go to films he was in , last film at the Cinema I went to was The Damned United

dark , but also funny in places - worth watching definitely